Written Answers. - Unemployment Levels.
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
128
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
if she will implement the recommendations of a report on the live register prepared by an economist (details supplied) for the Committee on Public Accounts.
[9850/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
129
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
if her attention has been drawn to a report by an economist (details supplied) into the efficacy of the live register as a measure of employment; and her views on the recommendations.
[9851/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
130
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
her views on whether the Irish economy is experiencing full employment if certain long-term structural features of the labour market are taken into consideration.
[9852/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
131
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
the target for the further reduction in unemployment she hopes to achieve within the lifetime of the Government.
[9853/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
132
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
the additional measures, if any, she envisages to fine tune the employment action programme in order that unemployment can be further reduced.
[9854/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
133
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
if the March 1999 unemployment figures are the lowest for 16 years; and the plans, if any, she has to lower unemployment.
[9855/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
134
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
the factors to which she attributes the most recent drop in unemployment to a level which represents its lowest for some years.
[9856/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:
139
Mr. C. Lenihan
asked the
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
her views on the true level of effective unemployment; and her further views on whether a more accurate gauge of unemployment is now necessary.
[9914/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 to 134, inclusive, and 139 together.
I welcome the recent substantial falls in unemployment. Trends in both the labour force survey and live register confirm the considerable falls in overall and long-term unemployment. Already this year the target set in the employment action plan of reducing unemployment to 7 per cent has been achieved well ahead of the end year 2000 target date. The standardised unemployment rate at end March 1999 was 6.7 per cent. The seasonally adjusted live register figure of 201, 600 at the end of March 1999, is the lowest since October 1983.
The fall in unemployment has been achieved during a period of exceptional economic and employment growth. Estimates for the 12 months to April 1998, based on the labour force survey, show that underlying growth in employment of 95,000 or 6.9 per cent, was accompanied by a significant reduction of 32,400 or 20.4 per cent, in unemployment, despite the substantial 62,000 or 4 per cent increase in the labour force.
The labour force survey is the internationally agreed standard statistical method of establishing the numbers at work, unemployed and outside the labour force. It uses internationally comparable definitions of employment and unemployment as recommended by the International Labour Office. Because of its comprehensiveness and coherence it is the key measure of employment and unemployment which informs policy-making in my Department. Obviously, additional sources such as the live register provide complimentary data on short-term trend indicators between publication of the labour force survey results. The recent introduction of quarterly national household surveys, carried out by the Central Statistics Office, is a significant and very positive development in the provision of more regular data on employment and unemployment trends.
We must continue to strive to further reduce unemployment. I have signalled that I would wish to see unemployment fall towards 5 per cent in the period ahead. The unemployment projections underpinning budget 1999, which are determined by many factors such as economic trends and demographic factors, are for the unemployment rate to fall from 6.8 per cent in 1999 to 5.9 per cent by 2001.
Officials from my Department attended a meeting of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on 1 April 1999 which, I understand, considered a report on unemployment commissioned by the committee. A key conclusion of the consultants' report called for the introduction, subject to the provision of additional resources, of a case-management approach for all unemployed persons given the recent success of the employment action plan approach for young unemployed persons.
The Government recently agreed that the employment action plan be extended, with effect from 1 March 1999, to young persons as they cross 18 months on the live register, and with effect from 1 May to adult unemployed in the age cohort 25 to 34 as they cross 12 months on the live register. These are significant positive additions to the phased implementation of the employment action plan and I will continue this process in the period ahead. This approach represents the best way forward in assisting the unemployed on their progression to the open labour market and back to work.
The employment action plan sets the policy framework for further growing employment and reducing unemployment. It will form a key determinant in the development of policies aimed at mobilising our labour supply aimed at meeting the labour needs of the economy.
